What [else] you should be watching this week

August 26, 11:31 AMChicago Cubs ExaminerNicole Phipps

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There's a lot a great baseball to be played this week and in between watching Cubs games there are 3 other series especially worth checking out:

1. Brewers v. Cardinals in St. Louis.  Obviously you should be watching this series.  The Cardinals are only 3.5 games behind the Brewers in the Wild Card hunt and a couple of good games this week would put the Cardinals right back in the mix.  On paper, neither Sheets against Wellemeyer nor Parra versus Wainwright seem like much of a contest (to the Brewers' obvious advantage), but that's why the games are played and not just compared based on stats and probabilities... because sometimes the "worse" team wins.  Besides, I've underestimated the Cardinals enough this season and I'm finally convinced to give them due credit for playing over their heads for so long.  I never imagined they'd have a team in the playoff race and yet here it is at the end of August and they're still hanging around.  My prediction is that the series will split (with Sheets picking up a win tonight) but I wouldn't be surprised if we see 2 very close games. 
2. Mets v. Phillies in Philadelphia.  What a great contest the NL East is turning into down the stretch, especially with memories of the 2007 Mets collapse always only thatfar away.  This is another 2 game series and both tonight's match-up of Martinez versus Moyer and tomorrow's with Santana facing Kendrick should be closely contested.  The Mets have been hot of recent, going 15-9 in the month of August and winning 11 of their last 14 games, but the Phillies have been playing well too.  They've won 8 of their last 10, after a disappointing start the the month.  My pick?  The Mets will win both games.  They're 9-4 against the Phils this season and I don't see this dominance changing now.  If they do win 2, their lead in the East will stretch to 2.5 which, while not huge, is much more comfortable than the half game they boast now.   
3. Red Sox v. Yankees in New York.  Seems like last week everyone in the sports world decided the Yankees' playoff hopes were dead.  With the Rays playing so well they would surely take the AL East, and the Wild Card would come down to either the Red Sox or the loser of the AL Central.  The Yankee's deficit in the Wild Card hunt was too great to make up.  Right?  Not so fast.  After sweeping the O's, the Yanks are only 5 games behind Boston in the Wild Card race (and only 3.5 behind the Twins).  Another sweep at home against their biggest rival would put them only 2 games out and we've seen New York make up far bigger deficits than that in the past.  Granted, these are not the Yankees of a few years ago (they have Sidney Ponson as a starting pitcher for Christ's sake) but neither are the Red Sox.  I'm not saying a Yankee comeback is probable, but it's certainly possible, and that makes this a series worth checking out.  In fact, I think the Yankees will take 2 of 3 this week, cutting the Sox's lead to 3 and force some folks in Boston to take notice.